sober thoughts.

What shoes am I going to wear with this outfit? Should I wear my hair straight, curled or up in a bun? Do I want to go with vampy red or flirty pink? Should I get a salad to cut the cals or just get a burger? 10 more reps? Would that make me look extra yolked? Should I drop down bills and credit cards to impress, even when I know I can’t afford to do so? What can I say to appear witty and charming? What will I be doing five years from now? What will give me status in society? Can I ever achieve the life I want to live? I want this job. I want that life. I want that outfit. I want I want I want…

Our minds are consumed with these kinds of superficial self-fulfilling thoughts on a daily basis; I am definitely guilty. We become so concerned with what is going on in our immediate environment, and strive to find a way to match up to the standards set by society, that we often forget about the bigger picture. We forget about what really matters in this life, the tragedies that go on around our world and the difference we have the potential to make.

The media flaunts the ideal of fame and glamour, idolizing individuals who have made it in the limelight and can sing some tunes and dance on stage. We get attracted to the wealth, the beauty, the praise. These icons become the staple of society; the image they portray is what individuals, young and old, feed off of. We forget that they are no different than you and me. They’re still human. Behind closed doors, more often than not, they’re living screwed up lives with miseries that they’ll never let surface. Some things money really can’t buy. Is it worth it to vicariously live through them and miss out on the beautiful moments in our own lives?

Some of us find an urgency to be wherever something’s going on because of serious FOMO and the desire for our presence to be felt. Where the crowd is, we naturally gravitate towards because that’s where we can expand our network. We want to be in the know and become everyone’s best friend, but take a moment and step back, do those people feel the same about you? Is it worth focusing so much energy into being noticed amongst people who don’t care when you can be expending that same energy into something that can actually bear fruit?

This generation has the tendency to always want more and to complain when we don’t get it. This is definitely something I struggle with. We fool ourselves to think If I get THAT job, I’ll be SO happy. If I find THAT guy, I’ll know what falling in love is like. If I just have THOSE material things, I’ll never ask for more. Truth is, we’re always going to want more. We’re like children who desperately want certain things, we’re just old enough to know how to suppress our tantrums. We’ll never really be satisfied by the things that this world will offer us. These things that we think are so crucial to our lives now, slowly become irrelevant. We meet new people, find new passions, obsess over new inventions and trends. It’s a cycle that doesn’t stop. So if the cycle never stops, will you ever find happiness?

The thing is, we have the choice to make these things significant in our lives. We think that it is inevitable for us to be wired to focus on these things because these are things that are relevant in our society. But that’s just an excuse. That’s easy. These are choices we make on a daily basis. You can choose to sacrifice a little of yourself and your time to help someone who may be in need. You can choose to tune out the the norms the media presents and enjoy your life, in the present moment, with the people you ACTUALLY know and love. You can choose to step away from the crowd and learn more about yourself and what YOU love instead of exhausting yourself trying to know everyone and everything. You can choose to be thankful for what you have and the people you are surrounded with every day, and you can choose to embrace this season in your life and appreciate whatever else happens to come your way. These are choices we make on a daily basis. We wake up in the morning, and choose to have a good day. We choose to love who we love and we choose to shape our lives in a particular way. Sometimes, we need to be still and really reflect on what we hope our lives will look like if we look back on the span of it. Will all these menial things we count so important now really mean anything?